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Descriptif du lot
“On the ghats of Banaras bathers bathe in ancient lava, so thick are the encrustations of his impasto, so acute his sense of the timelessness of the ritual he saw performed on those hoary steps on the river’s edge. Banaras Ghat, in its fusion of theme, forms, and composition is an example of the correspondence achieved by the artist between form and feeling” (R. Bartholomew and S. Kapur, Husain, New York, 1971, p. 4).
Like Picasso and Matisse, Maqbool Fida Husain was known for his depictions of ‘bathers’ or scenes of women bathing as a leisure activity by the banks of a river. Untitled (Bathers in the Ganges) is a spectacular illustration of Husain’s ability to combine and creatively hybridize themes from Eastern and Western traditions. This is not a scene of bathers frolicking in the water, but one that invokes the sacred landscape and mythology of Banaras, now known as Varanasi and also historically referred to as Kashi. This site of spiritual pilgrimage on the banks of the River Ganges was founded by Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology, and is one of the most ancient inhabited cities in the world, cited as far back as the Vedas and the Puranas. The sacred Ganges is personified by the goddess Ganga, who as both giver of life and carrier of the dead, represents the contradictory forces of life and death.
In 1960, Husain and Ram Kumar visited Banaras together and were captivated by the city. Husain’s bathers were inspired by the rituals he observed on the banks of the holy river Ganga during this visit. Ram Kumar describes the impact of their first encounter, writing, “Every sight was like a new composition, a still life artistically organised to be interpreted in colours. It was not merely outward appearances which were fascinating, but they were vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound, which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility” (Artist statement, G. Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 89). The radical transformation in Ram Kumar’s practice as a result of this encounter is widely documented. However, Banaras also had a powerful creative impact on Husain. The intensity of the ancient city’s landscape, steeped in culture and tradition, inspired the artist to create a series of paintings, drawings and prints, and the theme of bathers was one he would return to frequently over subsequent decades.
In the present lot, painted in 1980, twenty years after his impactful first visit to Banaras, Husain anchors the composition around a setting sun that divides the two groups of figures. On one side, a boat approaches carrying a lingam embellished with a three-headed Naga in a tribute to Lord Shiva, flanked by a standing ascetic and a seated female figure. The boat approaches two bathers carrying water vessels, who stand in the sacred waters in the classical tribhanga pose associated with temple sculpture, while to their right, a dark figure obscured by a cowl perhaps suggests the approach of death. Together all the elements of this painting evoke the sacred nature of the River Ganges and its importance as a site where both life and death are celebrated. In Untitled (Bathers in the Ganges), Husain transforms the familiar modernist subject of the bather into a meditation on the Ganges as a threshold between life and death.
Like Picasso and Matisse, Maqbool Fida Husain was known for his depictions of ‘bathers’ or scenes of women bathing as a leisure activity by the banks of a river. Untitled (Bathers in the Ganges) is a spectacular illustration of Husain’s ability to combine and creatively hybridize themes from Eastern and Western traditions. This is not a scene of bathers frolicking in the water, but one that invokes the sacred landscape and mythology of Banaras, now known as Varanasi and also historically referred to as Kashi. This site of spiritual pilgrimage on the banks of the River Ganges was founded by Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology, and is one of the most ancient inhabited cities in the world, cited as far back as the Vedas and the Puranas. The sacred Ganges is personified by the goddess Ganga, who as both giver of life and carrier of the dead, represents the contradictory forces of life and death.
In 1960, Husain and Ram Kumar visited Banaras together and were captivated by the city. Husain’s bathers were inspired by the rituals he observed on the banks of the holy river Ganga during this visit. Ram Kumar describes the impact of their first encounter, writing, “Every sight was like a new composition, a still life artistically organised to be interpreted in colours. It was not merely outward appearances which were fascinating, but they were vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound, which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility” (Artist statement, G. Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 89). The radical transformation in Ram Kumar’s practice as a result of this encounter is widely documented. However, Banaras also had a powerful creative impact on Husain. The intensity of the ancient city’s landscape, steeped in culture and tradition, inspired the artist to create a series of paintings, drawings and prints, and the theme of bathers was one he would return to frequently over subsequent decades.
In the present lot, painted in 1980, twenty years after his impactful first visit to Banaras, Husain anchors the composition around a setting sun that divides the two groups of figures. On one side, a boat approaches carrying a lingam embellished with a three-headed Naga in a tribute to Lord Shiva, flanked by a standing ascetic and a seated female figure. The boat approaches two bathers carrying water vessels, who stand in the sacred waters in the classical tribhanga pose associated with temple sculpture, while to their right, a dark figure obscured by a cowl perhaps suggests the approach of death. Together all the elements of this painting evoke the sacred nature of the River Ganges and its importance as a site where both life and death are celebrated. In Untitled (Bathers in the Ganges), Husain transforms the familiar modernist subject of the bather into a meditation on the Ganges as a threshold between life and death.